Sex, Violence, Sexual Violence? Interrogating Lines of Distinction in War and Peace

Sexual violence (SV) occurs in both peace and war. Yet, there are both tacit and explicit understandings in scholarship, policy and in jurisprudence that conflict-related SV (CRSV) and SV in peacetime settings differ significantly. In peacetime, the absence of consent determines when violence has occurred, who has been harmed and how, and who shall be held accountable.

By contrast, war is seen as a ‘coercive environment’ in which consensual sexual relations between enemy combatants and civilians are impossible.

Yet, there are many ’grey zones’ that problematize clear divisions between war and peace, coercion and consent, violence and sex. This project bridges scholarship on SV addressing peacetime settings with scholarship on CRSV and continuums of violence by exploring how lines of distinction between sex/violence are being drawn in different sites.

It asks: how is SV delineated from sex in contemporary legal and everyday settings that span both peace and wartime? To answer this, we will: 1) analyze legal texts in Sweden, the DR Congo as well as International Law 2) explore two ‘grey zones’, one in a peacetime and one in a ‘wartime’ setting, in which the lived experiences of people problematize tidy distinctions between sex and violence: people who practice BDSM in Sweden (peace); civilians who have sexual relations with ’enemy’ combatants in the DRC (war).

Ultimately, the project aims to contribute to better recognizing and preventing the harms of SV—in both war and peace.